Strategy and Snakes
by lunaticshadow
Summary: Snake Eyes gets his eyes on a soldier mopping the floors outside his room. He finds her interesting, but will she find him interesting too? Snake Eyes/OC. M-rating due to future content?


**G.I. Joe is copyrighted to Hasbro, Spyglass Entertainment, and many more.**

**OC is mine. Don't borrow her.**

**I have never written anything for GI Joe before, first-timer, be good to me. I just had the need to write this, and I blame the movie for it. It means that I have no clue how stuff works in the Joe-world, so correct me if I'm wrong. For info and stuff, I have used Joe-wiki and official homepages.**

**I have no idea where this will go, so please give me suggestions and comments.**

**All of you who read my other stories for Star Trek, I'm still working on chapter 10, so don't stress me. I'm guessing that the GI Joe stuff needed to come out, and I'll get my Trekkie inspiration back soon.**

**Enjoy!**

---

**Chapter 1 –**_** A start of something new.**_

---

Mopping a floor can be relaxing. Especially if it's done in the late night-shift, with no one else around. It's just you and the mop and the bucket of soapy water.

And a zillion long corridors.

Sighing softly, Corporal Sarah Greene, dipped the mop in the bucket, swirled it around a few times and then lifted it up and used the wringer to twist the water out.

She had been doing this for about two hours now; she would be very tired in the morning, when she changed the night-shift in the main-computer room. If she hadn't talked back to Staff Sergeant LaBoule, who had been unjust with the schedule, giving her more hours than others in her team. The Sergeant had something against her, or rather, her father, Colonel James Greene. They had been in the same team ages ago, but her father had advanced more rapidly than him, which made LaBoule hold a grudge against her.

So, when she had finished her night-shift at 0100hours, she was ordered to mop the corridors on level 3, where Team Alpha and other higher ranked personal had their private rooms and training hall. Then at 0600hours, she would release one of the night technicians and do a shift in front of the computers until 1300hours, and then she could rest until her evening shift began at 2100hours.

She was almost done mopping now, only one corridor left; the one leading down to Snake Eyes private quarters.

He was a quiet man, only those of Team Alpha knew him better than others. Sarah, who was in Team Delta, wasn't familiar at all with the members in the elite team, she knew them on sight, but she had never spoken to them in familiar terms, only speaking briefly to them when a message was to be relayed.

Sarah was trained to be a little of everything, she was adequate in computer technology, had above average skills in fire-arms and loved to train with her preferable weapon of choice; Sai. But she was an excellent strategist, both being a natural talent, and when having three older brothers, she had to plan routes to avoid her boyfriends being crushed to death by three over-protective maniacs, so she developed the skill to predict and plan for both unseen and visible obstacles.

She was one of the people working on different programs in the virtual reality obstacle course, making up the scenarios the different teams could run into. She had made a few scenarios by herself, and those could only Team Alpha outsmart. But she didn't know if they knew who had made the scenarios, most personal thought it was something the computers calculated. But the computer could not add the 'human factor', in which everything wasn't perfect like in the world of computers.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she dipped and wringed the mop again, starting the last part of her chore. It was so quiet up here; the team was out on a mission somewhere, and was expected to return tomorrow.

Sarah let her mind focus on the mopping, doing long, smooth strokes over the floor, sliding gently, almost being at peace, like she was when she did her yoga in the mornings.

She reached the door to Snake Eyes quarters, doing a last sweep with the mop, finally being finished with her task. Turning around to exit the corridor, she yawned and closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, she was trapped between the door and a black shadow standing in front of her. It was the owner of said door.

Snake Eyes let his eyes wander over the intruder of 'his' corridor. She was looking like she was the doe caught in the head-lights of a car. She was about 5'10 and around 165lbs; she had dark-brown hair up in a pony-tail. Her eyes were dark-blue and showed him that she was tired, surprised and a bit scared. Of him maybe? He had crept up on her, when he had seen movements coming from his area, and he knew that the cleaning-crew didn't clean this late at night. So he had been a bit on edge, since after returning from the last mission, he didn't want any more surprises.

Sarah tried to slow down her rapidly beating heart by taking deep breaths. She watched him, while he watched her. He had his head slightly bent to the right, and his shoulders were slumped, probably from exhaustion, he probably just wanted to take a shower and sleep until noon. On his right shoulder, he had a green duffle-bag, most likely filled with clothes and weapons.

"I'm sorry, sir." She stepped to the side, attempting to pass him to his left, but he stopped her by resting his left hand on the wall in the narrow corridor.

"_Why do you mop the floors at this hour?"_ He signed with his right hand, using ASL, American Sign Language, he was slightly curious to as why she was here.

Sarah sighed softly and turned to look at him, meeting the gaze of his visor.

"Punishment."

He bent his head in a questioning way, wanting her to elaborate.

"I spoke up against Sergeant LaBoule, which he didn't appreciate and he ordered me to mop all the corridors on this level after my last shift." She let her shoulders slump a bit and looked at him with tired eyes.

"_On which subject?"_ He signed.

"I spoke up to him on?"

A short nod.

"I have longer shifts than most of my team, and it is he who makes the schedules for us, so I asked why, and he could not give me a good answer, I thought, and I called him '_a miniscule man who cannot accept the progress of others_'. He blew up and assigned me to mopping-duty." She knew she deserved the punishment, since she had called her superior inferior. But it was like he saw her father in front of him whenever he assigned her to different shifts.

She could call daddy, but hell would break loose then, and she didn't want the trouble. He had almost not let her leave for Egypt and join the G.I. Joe forces. He had wanted his 'little princess' close, so he could protect her. But she had to stand on her own two legs and fend off the bad things herself.

"Mind letting me pass, sir? I have a shift at 0600hours, and I need to get some sleep."

Snake Eyes let his hand drop and he moved more to the side to let her pass. She nodded in thanks and slipped around the corner.

Bending down, she picked up her bucket and headed for the cleaning-supply room, to return the items.

He followed her with his gaze until she rounded another corner down the hall, and when she was out of his sight, he went to his own room, entered the access code and let the door shut behind him.

Dropping the bag on the floor, he walked directly to the shower and slipped out of his black suit, relaxing for the first time in several days.

---

At 05.15, the alarm went off in Sarah's room, waking her from the brief sleep and forcing her to get up and dress for a shift in front of the computers. Most likely, she would be going through the mission Team Alpha had been on, gathering all information and make a training scenario for the teams to practice on.

Moving at a rather slow pace, she walked to her closet, pulling out fresh clothes, put them on and brushed her teeth quickly, before putting up her hair in a simple bun and heading out to the canteen.

Not many were in the canteen, so she could grab some breakfast rather quickly, consisting of black tea and a few sandwiches.

She felt a bit stressed, so she headed up to the main control room, where all activity concerning the Joes were monitored. Heading to her station for the day, she saw the technician sitting there was one from team Gamma, Leslie Shane, a cute blonde who seemed to need sleep desperately, but even though she was dead-tired, she could charm any guy passing by. It was one of her non-military talents. She was around 25, 5'11 and a slim, lean body.

When Leslie spotted Sarah, she sighed of relief and stretched her arms high over her head, pushing out her chest, making some of the tired male techs glare at her.

"This has been one of the most boring nights ever…" Leslie yawned and clicked a few buttons.

"Hope the morning will be better." Sarah said and ate the last piece of the sandwich and swallowed it down.

Leslie told Sarah what she had gone through during the night, informing her of the maintenance she hadn't completed on her shift, leaving Sarah to finish off for her.

"The diagnostics of the fire-wall took longer than expected, so there wasn't enough time to complete the others, sorry." Leslie was already out of the chair, wanting to grab some breakfast and then get some sleep.

"I'll do it. Go and get some food, they had scrambled eggs today." Sarah smiled, sat down and sipped on her tea.

"Thanks, I'll see you later." Leslie walked out of the room, and more people walked in, changing the night-shift.

---

The day passed by slowly, mostly due to Sarah's lack of sleep. The diagnostics were made on time, just before General Hawk came in and added the information regarding the latest mission to the files. Sarah had the task of sorting out the info that would be used for simulations. After that, she managed to update some info regarding people stationed in the Pit, just paper-work that someone had forgotten to add into the system.

When the clock finally hit 1300, Sarah couldn't have been happier. She went to the canteen, ate a small lunch and then headed to her room, not caring to take off more than her jacket, shoes and pants, before dropping down in her bed.

She slept like a dead, and she loved it.

At 1900hours, her alarm went off for the second time that day, but this time, she felt much better when she got up. Heading to the shower, she stripped down and took her time washing, even having the time to use conditioner for her shoulder-length hair.

Donning a fresh set of underwear and a sports-bra, she pulled on her grey camouflage pants, she snapped on her standard black utility belt before she put on her formfitting camouflage shirt, leaving the top two buttons open, giving her a less strict style. The final touch was to put up her hair, she didn't let it down when she worked, and tonight she put it up in a high pony-tail.

Night-shift tended to be less formal, as most people relaxed a bit, but still was alert, as anything could happen.

Heading down to the canteen, she felt the delicious smell of mashed potatoes and hamburgers mixing. When she stepped in to stand last in the long line, she saw that almost every seat was taken, but when she had been in line, taken her food, she saw a long-table, made for at least ten people just being cleared.

The canteen was on the fifth floor, just beneath the 'pool' for underwater training, and the walls of the canteen was made of see-through glass, letting the diner's see the pool and all the activity going on. The table Sarah had spotted was next to one of those walls, and she made her way over, sitting down at the end of the table, having a nice view of the pool.

Looking around, she saw people dropping in and out of the canteen, coming to get something to eat before or after a shift.

Somebody had left a newspaper on her table, so she reached for it and scanned the headlines. It was the New York Times, and it told her about some bombings in northern Russia, which had been reported to be a firework factory that had blown up. But she knew it was where the Alpha had been and shut down a factory for bio-bombs. She shook her head at the false information the world had been given and continued to read and eat her dinner.

"Mind if we sit here?" A male voice with British accent asked from her right.

"Go ahead." She replied without looking closer at the person asking, she had found an interesting article about Kyoto and the Spring Festival. She would like to go there someday, maybe on her next leave.

"Oi, free table!" The British accent shouted out to, who Sarah guessed, his friends.

"Why can't they make bigger plates? I'm a growing boy, I need to eat." A second male voice was heard closer to the table and Sarah glanced to her right, seeing the big team heading her way. Team Alpha was about to sit down at 'her' table.

She saw Scarlett shake her head at Ripcord, and Duke was just laughing at his friend. Yes, she knew all their names, only the newcomers didn't, and they learnt quickly.

Heavy Duty sat down next to her, and Scarlett and Ripcord followed on this side of the table. On the other side, Breaker sat down opposite to Heavy, and Duke sat down next to him. No one had sat down opposite of her, which was good; she wasn't going to feel forced to hold a conversation then. Turning the page of her paper, she took a quick glance over it, and she met the visor of Snake Eyes. She hadn't even seen him sit down, nor had she heard him.

Sarah swallowed and then nodded to him in greetings. He nodded back and seemed to want to say something, but didn't. Returning to her paper, she hoped it looked casual, and not like she tried to get away from his gaze. But who knew really, maybe he just sat there with closed eyes, not caring at all.

She saw that he didn't have a tray, as he never was seen eating in public. He just seemed to listen on the various conversations around.

A part of her wanted to stress through her dinner, but a glance at the clock told her that she had at least 45 minutes to enjoy her dinner, and she planned to, as the Alpha team was just regular people, like her, but with higher ranking and experience.

"Hey."

Sarah heard someone wanting attention, but thought it wasn't directed at her, so she continued to read.

"Girl with the NY Times?"

That got her attention and she looked up from the paper to her right and met the stare of Duke, apparently he wanted something.

"You gonna read those?" He pointed to her left, where she had placed the sport pages under and next to her tray, which she had pulled out to make the paper more manageable.

"No, I'm not." She lowered her paper down in her lap and pulled out the sport pages from underneath her tray, handing them to Heavy Duty, who gave them to Duke.

"Thanks, you want it back?" He asked while flipping through.

"No, the paper just lay here when I sat down." She was going to start reading again, but a hand covered in black stopped her.

"_Why did you call the Sergeant a person who can't accept the progress of others?"_ He signed and he saw her look confused at first, but then she remembered speaking to him last night.

Sighing, she glanced to her right and the others were engrossed with the sport's result, so they wouldn't bother if they spoke.

"_I think he sees my father when he looks at me."_ She signed back. "_They were in the same team, and my father climbed the ranking tree much faster than Sgt. LaBoule and that… jealousy, I guess, still lingers, giving me sleeping problems."_

Snake Eyes could see in her eyes that she was tired of this, and though he guessed that if she called her father, the problem with the schedule would end, but then she would be regarded as one who couldn't handle herself.

"_But the Army is a though place, but if he gets worse, I'll take it up with Sgt. Stone."_ She continued. Sgt. Stone was over Sgt. LaBoule, and Stone was a just superior.

Snake Eyes nodded, feeling that she would handle it just fine. He was about to ask her what she did here, what her specialty was, when…

"Apple pie!" Ripcord suddenly shouted and ran off to the line again, having spotted the dessert for the evening.

Heavy Duty chuckled and shook his head.

"One day he'll get a stomachache."

"Nah, he's got a stomach of steel." Scarlett laughed and saw her almost boyfriend come back with a tray with six slices of apple pie and vanilla-sauce.

"Here we go." Ripcord smiled and began to hand out the plates. When he came to Snake Eyes, he remembered that the ninja didn't eat in public. "My bad, sorry mate." He put the plate back on the tray, but Snake stopped him, nodding to the woman sitting across from him.

"Would you like some pie, pretty lady?" Rip grinned and offered her the plate.

"Thank you, I would like some." She smiled back and took the plate, finished off her dinner and was about to eat the pie, when she saw that there was fresh apple pieces on top of the pie, which she couldn't eat, so she scraped them off to the side.

"You don't eat apples?" Breaker asked her, having seen her scraping them off.

"I do, but not fresh ones. My throat swells up and I have a hard time to breathe." She said, pushing the last slice to the side, before digging in.

"There's a protein in the apples that disappears when it's heated." Scarlett supplied.

"Yes, one called 'Mal-d 1'." Sarah confirmed, she'd been allergic to apples all her life, so she knew how she could eat them, and which substance that made it impossible to eat fresh ones.

"So, what do you do around here Corporal…?" Heavy Duty asked and took another bite of pie.

"Sarah Greene. Mostly, I work in the Main Control, entering data to the files and adding your completed missions' info to future use. I also work with the training scenarios; making you guys use your brains instead of your guns." She smiled knowingly at Ripcord and Heavy Duty, as they usually favored to barge into a scenario with guns drawn.

"So you are the one who made me run like hell when I had to get the bomb in scenario '_Op. Desert Hell'_?" Rip asked and eyed Sarah suspiciously.

She thought of the different scenarios she had created, and she vaguely remembered one that a man had to run like hell over a desert to get to the bomb in time.

"I think so, maybe." She said seriously, but her eyes sold her out to Snake, as he saw the glee in them.

"I'm never doing that training again." Rip shook his head.

"But if I make you run for a jet?" She teased the pilot.

"Maybe." He grinned.

Sarah's strategic mind had begun to plan something, but she had to save that for later, as the clock on the wall showed 20.51 and her shift began in nine minutes. She folded the paper and placed it on the table, rising from the table and picking up her tray.

"See you around, time for a lovely nightshift in front of the squared screen." She nodded to them and walked to the exit, not seeing how Snake followed her steps.

When he turned to the others in his team, they were looking at him with silly grins.

"She's pretty, and smart." Heavy Duty began.

"Speaks with her hands." Breaker added.

"And she doesn't mind your stares." Rip grinned.

Snake rose, made an obscene gesture and left to practice.

---

Several days later, a message was sent to all personnel in the Pit, who hadn't gone through the evaluation of their skills in martial arts.

_Mandatory martial arts evaluation _

_All that who has training in some kind of martial arts is to report to training room 2 for evaluation. Assessment of skill will be judged by Snake Eyes._

_Time allotted for teams of twenty has been planned into your regular schedule. _

_Do not be late._

Sarah sighed. She knew that this day would come, she welcomed it, but not when she was out of practice. Sure, she did her normal yoga routine in the mornings, participated on all scheduled exercises, worked out with weights and ran on the treadmill. But she needed a partner in her martial arts training, and she hadn't worked up the courage to ask for one. And if she asked LaBoule for one, he would probably dismiss her and tell her that it was a waste of time.

She was actually a bit scared to ask for one too. Most of the people above her level seemed to be too aggressive for her taste. She needed a teacher who could be on her level at first, then stepping it up when she had warmed up and gotten into the groove again.

If they found her reasonably good, then she could ask them if she could send for her own weapons, her own sai, which she had gotten for her 20th birthday from her brothers.

Scrolling down on the message, she saw that she was to be in the training room at 1400hours today, in less than five hours. Shit.

Pulling on her sneakers and her gym clothes, she was glad she had the chance to warm up a few hours beforehand, as today was one of her free days. Or rather, she only had the night shift starting at 2100hours.

She just planned to run a few miles and then do her yoga exercises. She could do kicks and moves too, but she didn't want to embarrass herself just yet.

---

At 1400hours, twenty men and women stood in training room 2 at attention in front of Snake Eyes, Sgt. Stone and General Hawk.

All three men glared at the soldiers in front of them, well; with Snake Eyes one could not be sure.

"To be Joes you have to have some martial art in your blood. Therefore, Snake Eyes will beat it into you." Hawk smiled and nodded to the ninja and Sgt. Stone.

"Against the wall." Sgt. Stone called out. When the floor had been cleared, Snake Eyes stepped out on the mat with two training batons in his hands. These ones had no shocks coming from them when hit, only semi-hard ends of a silvery-blue material, but still, they could hurt you.

"When your name is called, step up and let Snake kick your asses." Stone smiled and looked down on a digital list, which contained the names of the Joes in the room.

"Airborne!" A tall, dark-haired man with a sharp cheek stepped up.

Snake tossed the baton to his challenger, and the assessment began.

With a few well placed hits, Airborne was down on his back and the test was over. One had to be sturdier than that and clever as well, when facing Snake.

"Airtight!" Stone called. No match.

"Alpine!" Over in a second.

"Altitude!" Two punches.

"Ambush!" One would have thought with a name like that, he could challenge Snake somewhat, but no. Stone and Hawk stared at the defeated men. They would have to have more training than anticipated.

"Athena!" Stone sounded surprised, and looked up to see how a petit, compared to the men before, woman stepped out from behind some of the burly men. She looked determined and stepped onto the mat, lifting up the fallen baton from the ground as she passed it.

Snake didn't know how to react, he had sparred with Scarlett before, but she knew how to take a hit. But to fight against another woman, which he did not know how much she had trained before, felt strange. But she was to be assessed, so he had to match her skills, and see if she was good enough to have more training from him and others.

"He won't go easy on you, Athena. One chance to back down." Stone had heard from LaBoule that she was maybe not cut out to be a Joe, though he had never seen her in action himself.

"I know, sir. That's the whole point of this, isn't it?" She did not look at him; she just stared at Snake, focusing on her target.

Hawk smiled, he liked this one. He nodded to Snake, who began his assault.

She blocked the first swipe, got down on her knee, rolled and came up behind him. She swung the baton to hit his shoulder, but he twisted his weapon behind his back, blocking her attempt. Turning, he hit her left shoulder, and her hold relaxed, but only for a second. Taking support from the floor, she used the baton to propel herself from the floor, trying to plant her feet in his mid-riff.

Snake pulled up his baton, blocking her attempt, making her fall down on her back, but she tried to sweep him off his feet, using hers. Jumping up, landing a bit away, Snake saw her get up, striking a defensive pose and then aiming for his chest, she ran for him.

He pushed her away, hitting her in the stomach and with a swift kick, which she blocked with her baton; he tried to scare her off. His kick was very forceful, making Athena feel the power behind it crawl up her arms.

The kick also made her baton split down the middle, leaving her with half a baton in each hand, but now she felt more comfortable, as they reminded her a bit of her sai.

Doing a back-flip, Athena got down in a low defensive pose, left leg stretching out behind her, holding her right arm in front of her, pointing the baton at Snake, and her left arm was poised slightly over her right arm, holding the other half of the baton in a 'ready-to-hit-you-with-it' pose.

All three men, Stone, Hawk and Snake, straightened up slightly when they saw Athena move into a real fighting stance, better than those assessed up until now. All three wondered why this information about her level in fighting hadn't been brought up to them.

"Stand down." Hawk stepped onto the mat and approached Athena.

Athena let her weapons fall to her sides, standing up straight and turned to the General. He stopped next to her, looking her over.

"My office, one hour." He said and walked out from the training area.

"Yes, sir." She breathed heavily and walked off the mat, wiping her forehead with her sleeve. She felt both happy and apprehensive. Happy to have been able to feel the rush of excitement when she fought Snake Eyes, and apprehensive, because she didn't know if the General would yell at her for hiding her ability to fight somewhat, or if he wanted her to begin to train more extensively.

When she walked out from the room, she looked back and met Snake's gaze.

"_Fight me again sometime?"_ He asked her.

She shrugged and signed back.

"_If I'm not kicked out."_

"Crazy Legs, you're up!" Stone shouted, and a new fight started.

---

One hour later, Athena had showered and dressed in her normal uniform, which she had at all times, when it was not official business. This might be a semi-official business, but she had really no idea what to expect.

Standing outside the General's office, she knocked on the door.

"Enter."

Opening the door, she saw the General sitting in his chair and Sgt. Stone and Snake Eyes stood behind him.

"Sir." She nodded to each of them, standing with her legs parted and her hands clasped behind her back.

"Tell me, Corporal. Why has no one told me about your previous training in martial arts, more precisely '_Yamanni-ryu_' with the specialization on the sai as a primary weapon, instead of the bo-staff?" Hawk placed his elbows on his desk and leaned forward on them while he looked at her. In front of him, he had her file displayed on a data-pad, telling him about her background and her obvious skills in martial arts.

"According to regulations, sir, my files were controlled and read by the sergeant in charge of my team. He or she would therefore report to you if I would be suitable for other responsibilities than those I was assigned to in the first place."

Hawk's mouth twitched a bit.

"So essentially you are telling me that apparently your sergeant in charge withheld information from his superiors?"

"I believe so, sir." She felt her stomach churn a bit, this was the part where she got sent back home.

"Off the record, why would sergeant LaBoule withhold information from me?" He wanted to know why he should go and yell at LaBoule.

"Short version - he and my father were in the same team. My father was promoted five times over a span of three years, he got promoted once. Enter jealousy, which he takes out on me, since I have lower rank, and he can do as he pleases if I just as much as look at him wrongly." She saw them just sitting there, processing her words, she felt uncomfortable and just knew that she would be kicked out for telling them that her superior had done wrong. She shouldn't really be kicked out, he was the one who had done wrong, but she didn't know if LaBoule had told them any lies about her or other things.

"Do you have your own weapons?" Hawk asked after a few minutes.

"Sir?" Athena was confused.

"If you have had this training…" He pointed to the data-pad. "You preferably have a pair that is made for your measurements, or is my assumptions wrong?"

"No, sir, you assume correctly. I have a pair, back home."

"Send for them. Ask Colonel Greene to send them with the Army's express-services." He smiled at her. "Sgt. Stone will from now on be your sergeant in charge, and he will provide you with a new schedule."

"Yes, sir. May I ask you something?" She didn't smile just yet, but her eyes had begun to sparkle more, and her fears of being sent home was gone.

"Go ahead." He nodded and handed the data-pad to Stone.

"I was wondering if there is someone I could spar with? I have not had any extensive training with the sai for over eight months…"

"Already taken care of." He turned to Snake Eyes. "Snake Eyes has offered to train you, as he does with the other Alpha's. You'll be joining them when you are up to par."

Athena looked to Snake and nodded in thanks. He nodded back and it looked like he smiled a bit.

"Thank you so much, sir. I'll go and ask Colonel Greene for my weapons, if it's okay with you?"

"Go ahead, tell him I said 'hello'." He smiled at her.

"I will. Thank you again." She felt really happy for getting a chance to practice with her sai again. And maybe, she would be good enough to get moved to Team Beta, heck, maybe even Team Alpha!

---

**So, what did you think? And before you start to yell at me that this is a Mary-Sue (using my own name), Sarah will be called Athena from now on, as the others in the movie is called their codenames. **

**And as to why I have used the name Athena, you can look it up, or you can read the next chapter, which I hope will come out soon.**

**Lunatic.**


End file.
